Jeddah: Three Indians, including two Malayali nurses, died after the van carrying nurses fell into a gorge near Taif in the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia.
The dead have been identified as Akhila, 29, of Vanchiyoor, Thiruvananthapuram, and Subi, 33, of Ayoor, Kollam. The third victim was the van driver, a native of Kolkata.
Two other Malayali nurses identified as Nancy and Priyanka are among the five injured nurses admitted to King Faisal Hospital at Taif. Chennai residents Rumiya Kumar, Khumita Arumughan and Rajitha who sustained minor injuries were admitted to the Prince Sultan Hospital at Taif.
The accident happened at 4.30 am on Sunday as the nurses were proceeding to Jeddah from Riyadh.
The nurses who had arrived in Riyadh on February 3 after from India had completed the quarantine period on Saturday. They were on their way to join duty in different hospitals when the accident took place at dawn the next day.
According to preliminary information the driver had dozed off resulting in the fatal mishap.
There were eight persons including the driver in the vehicle at the time of the accident.
